Research Associate in Nanophotonics for Radiative Cooling and Smart Windows

Horizon2020 project, Eensulate

Salary Grade & Range: Grade 7 £34,056, - £41,163

(inclusive of London Allowance of £2980 per annum)

We wish to recruit a Research Associate from April or as soon as possible thereafter to join the photonic innovations lab at UCL (www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/pilab) and to work on the Horizon2020 project, Eensulate.

Eensulate (http://www.eensulate.eu) is a recently awarded Horizon2020 project with the participation of 15 partners across Europe. The main objective of Eensulate is to develop an affordable (28% reduction of total refurbishment costs) and lightweight (35% weight reduction versus the best performing modules in the market) solution for envelope insulation to bring existing curtain wall buildings to “nearly zero energy” standards, reducing energy bills by at least 20% while complying with the structural limits of the original building structure and national building codes.

The Research Associate in Eensulate will be responsible for the design and development of an adaptive radiative cooling coating that will allow for passive cooling through the roof of a building in the summer whilst preventing heat from escaping in the winter. The functional coating will consist of a multilayer thin-film based on vanadium dioxide whose emissivity will be tuned by the ambient temperature. Appropriately designed nanostructures will enhance the radiative cooling process. The RA will also be responsible for complementing the existing synergies in the photonic innovations lab on smart thermochromic windows with antireflective and self-cleaning properties. Specifically, the RA will design, fabricate and test the properties of the developed coatings by using the advanced nanotechnology facilities available at UCL. Upon successful demonstration of a small-scale prototype, the RA will be responsible for scaling up the processes with the objective of demonstrating a full size prototype to be tested in real environmental conditions with the aid of our industrial partners.

The post is available for a period of 2 years in the first instance. Further funding to support the post may be available.

Key Requirements

Applicants should have (or be about to submit) a PhD in one of the following areas: design and fabrication of nanophotonics, plasmonics, metamaterials/metasurfaces, multilayer thin-films or similar. A first degree in an engineering, physical, chemical or material sciences subject is required. Proven capability in electromagnetic theory, modelling of photonic nanostructures with Finite Difference Time Domain or Finite Element methods, fabrication of photonic nanostructures and optical experimental skills are essential. The ability to model the heat transport and radiative phenomena by using COMSOL or other similar software is desirable.

Appointment at Grade 7 is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD, if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Research Assistant Grade 6B (£29,809 - £31,432 per annum) with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD thesis including corrections.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants are encouraged to make Informal enquiries about the post to Dr. Ioannis Papakonstantinou at